The Darkness And The Dragon
The Texas Journey
By L.A.Noyola

Chapter 2
Lightning's Flash

    Anthony and Lana had been walking through the Black Forest for half the 
night, they decided to bed down when they finally found a clearing near a large 
cliff. They set up camp there, and they decided to go into the tent right away 
because the weather was going bad again.

  "Jeez! Is it always this stormy 'round Harlingen?" Anthony asked, looking 
outside of the tent for a moment.

  "You have no idea…" was all Lana had to say.

  Just then, thunder crashed and the lightning flashed, the rain and wind were 
acting up. Anthony zipped up the tent's opening, sighing and looked to Lana.

  "You come from Harlingen, don't you?"

  "How long did it take ya to figure it out?" Lana asked, rolling her eyes.

  "Not long, Absols are usually runnin' 'round Harlingen…  And from what I 
gather, you're goin' to Lorianne's Gym in McAllen?"

  "Yup, and with Abby's Disaster Strike, we're gonna win in no time at all!"

  'You really think so? Sala's Flamethrower went right through the attack!" 
Anthony reminded, grinning.

  "Maybe so, but she trains Ice-types. If they decide to attack with an Ice 
Beam, it'll just freeze the black shell of the attack around her Pokemon. I've 
got it all planned out!" Lana explained, winking with a true smile.

  Anthony laughed and spoke, "Wow! You're really prepared, aren't you, Lana?"

  Lana nodded excitedly, looking up at the top of the tent. Her eyes narrowed 
again and her expression changed back to a serious look. The lightning kept on 
flashing, the thunder didn't seem to crash very much. Lana noticed this and 
looked back to Anthony.

  "Anthony… Let's go out for a few… There's something that doesn't feel right 
about this storm…"

  "Uh… Sure, ok, let's go."

  Hearing this, Lana grabbed her pokeballs and unzipped the tent, running out 
towards the cliff. Anthony quickly got out, running after her.

  Lana took out one of the pokeballs from her pocket and tossed it upward.

  "Spread Your Wings, Skyer!!"

  The pokeball popped open to reveal the steel silver bird Pokemon, Skarmory. It 
screeched for a moment, then Lana got on its back.

  "To the top of the cliff!"

  Skyer the Skarmory nodded and flew off the ground and up toward the very top 
of the cliff, where most of the lightning was flashing.

  "What The Heck Is She Doing?!" Anthony yelled, taking out a pokeball and 
letting Sala out.

  "Follow Lana!"

  He got on Sala's back and they flew off behind Lana. The lightning seemed to 
get more and more brighter every time it flashed.

  "Up There!!" Lana yelled, seeing a boy and a Raichu standing at the top of the 
cliff.

  Skyer flew up faster, all the boy could see was a silver flash.

  "Hey Stupid!!"

  The mystery boy looked up and saw Lana falling through the air, but she landed 
on her feet when she got to the ground. She had her hands on her hips and didn't 
look very happy. Skyer landed beside her, peaking her pokeball and getting 
sucked into it.

  "So, you're the one causing this massive Lightning storm… I suggest you stop 
before it gets ugly… Go back to South Padre Island where you belong…" she spoke, 
narrowing her eyes.

"Feh! No need, I can beat you easily, lil girl!" the boy snapped,

  Lana glared, who did he think he was calling a 'lil girl?' He looked the same 
age as her! No matter, she felt like kicking this guy's behind anyway.

  "You talk big, but can you back it up?" she asked with a smirk, another flash 
of lightning behind her.

  She looked out Abby's Ultra Ball and got ready to throw it, she then yelled.

  "Challenger Picks First!"

  The boy narrowed his eyes back at her and threw a Great Ball out.

  "Show Yourself, Magneton!!"

  The Magnet Pokemon appeared, sparks appearing around it. Lana looked 
disgusted, putting Abby's Ultra Ball away.

  "I don't need my best Pokemon to beat THAT!"

  She yelled this as she took out a regular pokeball and tossed it out.

  "Flame 'em, Blaze!"

  The ball popped open and out came another Absol, this one's eyes were red, 
like any normal Absol. Blaze Absol howled as red energy stored in its mouth, it 
wasn't long before it was released at the Magneton, Fire Blast.

  Magneton tried to get out of the way of the large flaming star, but it was too 
large to do so. It was a direct hit, but it wasn't out quite yet.

  "Magneton! Spark attack, now!"

  Sparks began to fly all around the Magneton, it swiftly levitated toward Blaze 
in a sad attempt to electrocute him. 

  "All right, Blaze! Flaming Matches!"

  Blaze just yawned and jumped over Magneton, opening his mouth again. This 
time, small, match-like flames flew out of his mouth. They all hit Magneton and 
sent it to the ground, making it faint.

  "Hah hah! Great job, Blaze!" Lana congratulated, the Dark Dog Pokemon running 
to her and licking her hand at she rubbed his muzzle.

  "I Can't Believe This… I lost…" the boy yelled, the Magneton going back into 
its ball. "I'll stop…"

  Lana smiled and walked over to him, holding out a hand.

  "I'm Lana, from Harlingen as you might've guessed!" 

  The boy grinned slightly, shaking her hand.

  "I'm Richard Cantu the 2nd from South Padre Island, I guess it's nice to meet 
you…"

  Lana laughed, letting go of his hand and turning around to see Anthony and 
Sala barely landing on the safe ground of the cliff. Anthony ran over to Lana 
and Richard as Sala went back into his ball.

  "Hey Lauren, what happened to the lightning?" he asked, then he looked to 
Richard and narrowed his eyes. "And who's he?"

  "This is Richard from South Padre Island… Richard, this is Anthony. And the 
lightning stopped because Richard was making it with his Raichu. I fought his 
Magneton in battle and beat it easily!"

  "Ya don't have to rub it in, Lana…" Richard groaned. "Anyway, where are you 
two headed?"

  "To McAllen… We're close though, we're cuttin' through the Black Forest." Lana 
answered, bending down and scratching Blaze behind the horn. 

  "Say… I'm goin' there, too! To fight Lorianne and meet up with a friend from 
San Antonio." Richard explained, grinning.

  "Did You Say San Antonio?!" Lana and Anthony yelled in disbelief and almost in 
anger.

  "Yeah, I did…"

  'Uh-oh… If his friend sees me, I could be in big trouble…' Anthony thought, 
gulping and looking to Lana, who looked quite mad.

  "San Antonio… Home of the Dragon Masters who think they're SO smart! The Gym 
of Darkness in Harlingen has been fighting with the Gym of Dragons in San 
Antonio for more than a decade! Richard, I wanna meet your friend and see if he 
lives up to where he's from!" Lana yelled in anger.

  "OK!!" Richard yelled, then calmed down, as did Lana. "OK, you can meet him. 
Let's all go there together, it'll be faster that way. Especially since you two 
have flying Pokemon. Let's leave in the morning, it's pretty late right now."

  Anthony and Lana nodded, but Anthony had narrowed eyes at Richard. If he knew 
somebody from San Antonio, then that would get Anthony into trouble. They'd see 
how things turn up in the morning when they leave.

To Be Continued…